• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• 제56권4호
• /
• pp.325-334
• /
• 2018

Toxoplasma gondii is an apicomplexan zoonotic protozoan parasite that infects most species of warm-blooded animals, including humans. The heavy incidence and severe or lethal damage caused by T. gondii infection clearly indicate a need for the development of an effective vaccine. T. gondii GRA8 is a member of the dense granules protein family and is used as a marker of acute infection. In the present study, we evaluated the protective immunity induced by DNA vaccination based on a recombinant eukaryotic plasmid, pDsRed2-GRA8, against acute toxoplasmosis in mice. BALB/c mice were intramuscularly immunized with the pDsRed2-GRA8 plasmid and then challenged by infection with the highly virulent GFP-RH strain of T. gondii. The specific immune responses and protective efficacy against T. gondii of this vaccine were analyzed by measuring cytokine and serum antibody titers, splenocyte proliferation assays, and the survival times of mice after challenge. Our results showed that mice immunized with pDsRed2-GRA8 demonstrated specific humoral and cellular responses, induced higher IgG antibody titers with predominant IgG2a production; increased levels of IL-10, IL-12 (p70), $IFN-{\gamma}$, $TNF-{\alpha}$, and splenocyte proliferation; and prolonged survival times compared to those of control mice. The present study showed that DNA immunization with pDsRed2-GRA8 induced humoral and cellular immune responses, and all immunized mice showed greater Th1-type immune responses and longer survival times than those of control mice. These results indicated that T. gondii GRA8 DNA immunization induces a partial protective effect against acute toxoplasmosis.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
• /
• 제29권4호
• /
• pp.287-293
• /
• 2002

병독성 대장균 (K88ac)의 pilin gene을 분리하여 이를 당근에 도입한 후 이의 발현을 유도하여 자돈 설사병 예방 및 치료를 위한 당근경구백신 개발을 목적으로 하였다. 형질전환을 통해 494 세포주를 확립하였고, western분석을 통하여 0.1~4 $\mu\textrm{g}$/g의 pilin 단백질 발현을 확인하였으며 백신식물 생산에 적합한 세포주 2종 (M1-17, Y14-1)을 선발하여 포장생산 및 임상실험에 적용하였다. 쥐를 대상으로 당근 경구 투여시 병원균 항체 생성 여부와 면역 유도를 위한 최적 농도 지표를 파악하기 위하여 1주 간격으로 형질전환 당근 1g, 3g, 5g을 경구투여 한 결과 백신 당근 3g 투여시 10$\mu\textrm{g}$의 재조합 pilin 백신을 경구 투여한 것에 비해 다소 높은 항체 생성을 나타냈으며 3g의 분량이 쥐 면역 유도를 위한 적정량으로 확인하였다. 자돈에 대한 백신당근 경구 투여시 자돈 설사병 보호 효과를 정량적으로 구명하기 위하여 분석한 자돈의 일당 증체량은 형질전환 당근 투여시 평균 60g 이상 더 높은 증체량을 보였으며, 질병방제 효과를 구명하기 위하여 장독성 병원균을 인위 접종한 결과 대조구에서만 fecal score 3의 심각한 설사를 확인하였다. 본 연구를 통해 개발된 당근백신은 효율적 투여방법 등에 대한 후속 실험을 통하여 산업적 이용 가능성이 탐색될 예정이다.

• BMB Reports
• /
• 제52권8호
• /
• pp.496-501
• /
• 2019

Conventionally, immunotoxins have been produced as a single polypeptide from fused genes of an antibody fragment and a toxin. In this study, we adopted a unique approach of chemical conjugation of a toxin protein and an antibody fragment. The two genes were separately expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to high levels of purity. The two purified proteins were conjugated using a chemical linker. The advantage of this approach is its ability to overcome the problem of low recombinant immunotoxin production observed in some immunotoxins. Another advantage is that various combinations of immunotoxins can be prepared with fewer efforts, because the chemical conjugation of components is relatively simpler than the processes involved in cloning, expression, and purification of multiple immunotoxins. As a proof of concept, the scFv of trastuzumab and the PE24 fragment of Pseudomonas exotoxin A were separately produced using E. coli and then chemically crosslinked. The new immunotoxin was tested on four breast cancer cell lines variably expressing HER2. The chemically crosslinked immunotoxin exhibited cytotoxicity in proportion to the expression level of HER2. In conclusion, the present study revealed an alternative method of generating an immunotoxin that could effectively reduce the viability of HER2-expressing breast cancer cells. These results suggest the effectiveness of this method of immunotoxin crosslinking as a suitable alternative for producing immunotoxins.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• /
• 제28권5호
• /
• pp.375-395
• /
• 2006

Purpose: Lingual nerve (LN) damage may be caused by either tumor resection or injury such as wisdom tooth extraction, Although autologous nerve graft is sometimes used to repair the damaged nerve, it has the disadvantage of necessity of another operation for nerve harvesting. Moreover, the results of nerve grafting is not satisfactory. The nerve growth factor (NGF) is well-known to play a critical role in peripheral nerve regeneration and its local delivery to the injured nerve has been continuously tried to enhance nerve regeneration. However, its application has limitations like repeated administration due to short half life of 30 minutes and an in vivo delivery model must allow for direct and local delivery. The aim of this study was to construct a well-functioning $rhNGF-{\beta}$ adenovirus for the ultimate development of improved method to promote peripheral nerve regeneration with enhanced and extended secretion of hNGF from the injured nerve by injecting $rhNGF-{\beta}$ gene directly into crush-injured LN in rat model. Materials and Methods: $hNGF-{\beta}$ gene was prepared from fetal brain cDNA library and cloned into E1/E3 deleted adenoviral vector which contains green fluorescence protein (GFP) gene as a reporter. After large scale production and purification of $rhNGF-{\beta}$ adenovirus, transfection efficiency and its expression at various cells (primary cultured Schwann cells, HEK293 cells, Schwann cell lines, NIH3T3 and CRH cells) were evaluated by fluorescent microscopy, RT-PCR, ELISA, immunocytochemistry. Furthermore, the function of rhNGF-beta, which was secreted from various cells infected with $rhNGF-{\beta}$ adenovirus, was evaluated using neuritogenesis of PC-12 cells. For in vivo evaluation of efficacy of $rhNGF-{\beta}$ adenovirus, the LNs of 8-week old rats were exposed and crush-injured with a small hemostat for 10 seconds. After the injury, $rhNGF-{\beta}$ adenovirus($2{\mu}l,\;1.5{\times}10^{11}pfu$) or saline was administered into the crushed site in the experimental (n=24) and the control group (n=24), respectively. Sham operation of another group of rats (n=9) was performed without administration of either saline or adenovirus. The taste recovery and the change of fungiform papilla were studied at 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks. Each of the 6 animals was tested with different solutions (0.1M NaCl, 0.1M sucrose, 0.01M QHCl, or 0.01M HCl) by two-bottle test paradigm and the number of papilla was counted using SEM picture of tongue dorsum. LN was explored at the same interval as taste study and evaluated electro-physiologically (peak voltage and nerve conduction velocity) and histomorphometrically (axon count, myelin thickness). Results: The recombinant adenovirus vector carrying $rhNGF-{\beta}$ was constructed and confirmed by restriction endonuclease analysis and DNA sequence analysis. GFP expression was observed in 90% of $rhNGF-{\beta}$ adenovirus infected cells compared with uninfected cells. Total mRNA isolated from $rhNGF-{\beta}$ adenovirus infected cells showed strong RT-PCR band, however uninfected or LacZ recombinant adenovirus infected cells did not. NGF quantification by ELISA showed a maximal release of $18865.4{\pm}310.9pg/ml$ NGF at the 4th day and stably continued till 14 days by $rhNGF-{\beta}$ adenovirus infected Schwann cells. PC-12 cells exposed to media with $rhNGF-{\beta}$ adenovirus infected Schwann cell revealed at the same level of neurite-extension as the commercial NGF did. $rhNGF-{\beta}$ adenovirus injected experimental groups in comparison to the control group exhibited different taste preference ratio. Salty, sweet and sour taste preference ratio were significantly different after 2 weeks from the beginning of the experiment, which were similar to the sham group, but not to the control group.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• 제32권7호
• /
• pp.922-929
• /
• 2019

Objective: Mutations in low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), which encodes a critical protein for cholesterol homeostasis and lipid metabolism in mammals, are involved in cardiometabolic diseases, such as familial hypercholesterolemia in pigs. Whereas microRNAs (miRNAs) can control LDLR regulation, their involvement in circulating cholesterol and lipid levels with respect to cardiometabolic diseases in pigs is unclear. We aimed to identify and analyze LDLR as a potential target gene of SSC-miR-20a. Methods: Bioinformatic analysis predicted that porcine LDLR is a target of SSC-miR-20a. Wild-type and mutant LDLR 3'-untranslated region (UTR) fragments were generated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and cloned into the pGL3-Control vector to construct pGL3 Control LDLR wild-3'-UTR and pGL3 Control LDLR mutant-3'-UTR recombinant plasmids, respectively. An miR-20a expression plasmid was constructed by inserting the porcine premiR-20a-coding sequence between the HindIII and BamHI sites in pMR-mCherry, and constructs were confirmed by sequencing. HEK293T cells were co-transfected with the miR-20a expression or pMR-mCherry control plasmids and constructs harboring the corresponding 3'-UTR, and relative luciferase activity was determined. The relative expression levels of miR-20a and LDLR mRNA and their correlation in terms of expression levels in porcine liver tissue were analyzed using reverse-transcription quantitative PCR. Results: Gel electrophoresis and sequencing showed that target gene fragments were successfully cloned, and the three recombinant vectors were successfully constructed. Compared to pMR-mCherry, the miR-20a expression vector significantly inhibited wild-type LDLR3'-UTR-driven (p<0.01), but not mutant LDLR-3'-UTR-driven (p>0.05), luciferase reporter activity. Further, miR-20a and LDLR were expressed at relatively high levels in porcine liver tissues. Pearson correlation analysis revealed that porcine liver miR-20a and LDLR levels were significantly negatively correlated (r = -0.656, p<0.05). Conclusion: LDLR is a potential target of miR-20a, which might directly bind the LDLR 3'-UTR to post-transcriptionally inhibit expression. These results have implications in understanding the pathogenesis and progression of porcine cardiovascular diseases.

• 한국가금학회지
• /
• 제46권1호
• /
• pp.17-24
• /
• 2019

본 연구는 오브알부민 프로모터의 최적 크기를 결정하기 위해 수행하였고, 이를 위해 2.8, 5.5, 그리고 Mut-4.4 kb의 오브알부민 프로모터를 리포터 벡터에 클로닝하여 다양한 세포들에서 프로모터의 활성을 검증하였다. Mut-4.4kb-pOV는 2.8와 5.5kb-pOV에 비해 HeLa, MES-SA, 그리고 LMH/2A에서 높은 수준의 프로모터 활성을 유도하였으나, cEF 세포에서는 낮은 활성을 보였다. 한편, Mut-4.4kb-pOV/pGL4.11 벡터가 도입된 HeLa, MES-SA, LMH/2A, 그리고 cEF 세포에서 에스트로겐 처리에 의한 반응성을 검증한 결과, cEF 세포를 제외한 나머지 세포들은 에스트로겐을 처리했을 때 리포터 유전자의 발현량이 증가하였다. 또한 LMH/2A 세포에 500 nM 에스트로겐 처리 결과, Mut-4.4kb-pOV는 에스트로겐 처리 후에도 2.8와 5.5kb-pOV에 비해 높은 수준의 프로모터 활성을 유도하였다. 더불어 ERE 영역이 없는 2.8kb-pOV는 LMH/2A 세포에서 500 nM 에스트로겐 처리 후 프로모터의 활성에 효과가 없었으나, ERE 영역을 포함하는 5.5 그리고 Mut-4.4kb-pOV는 에스트로겐 처리에 의해 프로모터의 활성이 증가한 결과를 보였다. 이상의 결과는 Mut-4.4kb-pOV가 형질전환 암탉을 생산하기 위한 재조합바이러스 벡터의 프로모터 영역으로 2.8와 5.5kb-pOV에 비해 보다 효율적인 크기임을 보여주는 결과이다.